2018Fifa World Cup Russia - First Day Cover

The 2018 FIFA will be held in RussiaTM between 14 June and 15 July. Russia is hosting the event for the first time in history and this will be the first World Cup held in Europe since the 2006 tournament in Germany. A total of 64 matches are to be played in 12 football arenas across 11 cities in Russia and 32 teams will be taking part in the competition.
Russia's official mascot for this FIFA World CupTM is a wolf named ZabivakaTM developed by a student designer Ekaterina Bocharova. In Russian, ZabivakaTM means "the one who scores"- a suitable name for this wolf who radiates fun, charm and confidence. The Official Mascot's role is not just to promote the event and entertain the audience but also to work as an ambassador of Russia throughout the world.

The official emblem blends unique attributes of the FIFA World CupTM and of Russia. The design is based on the outline of the World Cup trophy while the bold use of red, gold, black and blue in the emblem's colour palette was inspired by centuries-old techniques seen in world-renowned Russian art dating back to the earliest icon paintings.
The FIFA World CupTM has been held every four years since the inaugural tournament in Uruguay in 1930. That year Uruguay was both the tournament host and winner. The tournament has been staged 20 times, with Brazil holding the most titles with five titles while Italy and Germany are close behind with four titles each.

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded on 21 May 1904 and has grown to include 211 member associations, thus making it one of the largest and most popular sports federations in the world.